Kurt Lehovec

Kurt Lehovec

Born

12 June 1918

Ledvice, Bohemia

Died

17 February 2012 (2012-02-18) (aged 93)

California, USA

Kurt Lehovec (June 12, 1918 – February 17, 2012) was one of the pioneers of the integrated circuit. He innovated the concept of p-n junction isolation used in every circuit element with a guard ring: a reverse-biased p-n junction surrounding the planar periphery of that element. This patent was assigned to Sprague Electric.[1][2]

Because Lehovec was under salary with Sprague, he was paid only one dollar for this invention.

The important case of fast ionic conduction in solid states is one in a surface space-charge layer of ionic crystals. Such conduction was first predicted by K. Lehovec in the paper "Space-charge layer and distribution of lattice defects at the surface of ionic crystals" ( J. Chem. Phys. 1953. V.21. P.1123 -1128). As a space-charge layer has nanometer thickness, the effect is directly related to nanoionics (nanoionics-I). The Lehovec effect forms a basis for a creation of multitude nanostructured fast ion conductors as used in modern portable lithium batteries and fuel cells.